


When I Blink I Think of You

by kitnkabootle



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, berena - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8273956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitnkabootle/pseuds/kitnkabootle
Summary: Serena Campbell is tired of feeling sorry for herself and forced to attend a Charity Ball as Ric Griffin's date.





	

To say she regretted the whole thing was the biggest understatement of the year. It wasn't only that she couldn't have sidestepped the responsibility if she tried, but that she'd decided to go with Ric Griffin of all people. It was for charity after all, the function being the only part of it that she could wrap her head around. Then Ric had gone and caught her at a particularly low moment when she'd been feeling sorry for herself. If she remembered right, it had been the day she'd shoveled an entire bowl of clotted cream in her mouth while she thought about _her_.

Serena sighed and studied herself in the mirror on her compact. Ric sat beside her in the back of the hired car, dressed in a sharp tuxedo and looking out the window at some of the party’s attendees mingling on the stretch of the estate grounds. Choosing his first victim, Serena thought and all but rolled her eyes at her own reflection as she finished applying a coat of deeper red lipstick. She wasn't usually fond of the shade, but it had drawn compliments in the past. God knew she could do with a couple of compliments at the moment.

When the car settled to a stop at the large front doors, Ric hopped out and circled around to open Serena’s door for her, a gentlemanly gesture that Serena hadn't at all expected would make her feel as nice as it did. She'd spent months looking out for herself, doing mostly everything alone and had forgotten what it was like to have someone watch out for her for a change. Well there had at one point been a person who'd watched out for her, only _she'd_ buggered off to Kiev without a glance back and Serena still felt the sting of that door closing on her face.

She took Ric’s hand and climbed out, her long black gown only mildly cumbersome as it clung a little tightly at the waist and hips and billowed freely around her legs. He whistled under his breath and she fixed him with an unamused glare before leading the way through the grand entrance doors and straight down the sweeping halls in the towering old estate.

Serena smiled at her friends from AAU, glad to see most of their faces, despite those missing and on duty presently back at Holby City. She was glad to not have to be on call, and gladder still that the alcohol was abundant and free of charge. If ever there were a time to drown one’s sorrows and make out with a stranger at midnight, it was at a Charity Ball.

She scanned the crowd of people as she enjoyed a sip of her wine and half-listened to Ric and Hanssen talking. She had to admit, even Hanssen looked less Lurch-like in his tuxedo than she'd expected him to.

“Well it was mandatory so everyone that isn't working from the senior staff will be in attendance.” Hanssen answered Ric, the question proceeding the answer she had not heard. The wine was already gliding so easily down her throat that she tried not to care too much about any office politics that might rear their head.

She saw a flash of blond, wavy hair in the crowd and her heart suddenly skidded to a halt, her stomach dropping right out from under her. When the woman turned around Serena recognized Jasmine from… _Keller, was it?_ They’d only had a few minor interactions. She ignored the disappointment that clung at her stomach and chastised herself for being a stupid, foolish girl. She wasn't going to allow _her_ to ruin her night when _she_ wasn't even here to ruin it in person.

“Serena,” Ric’s voice was suddenly much too loud in her ear and she realized she must have missed the first few times he'd said it.

“What?” she asked and she knew she was sharper than she needed to be so she tried to soften her expression with a small smile.

“Will you dance with me or am I going to have to beg?” Ric grinned and Serena sighed audibly, but took his hand and let him lead her onto the floor.

The music really was pleasant, the theme having been a bit old-fashioned and much to her liking. Ric held her tightly at the waist with one hand while his other clutched her hand. She had to admit it felt wonderful to be moved around a dance floor again. Even if the someone moving her was just a friend. Even if she wondered what it would have been like if a certain other someone were there moving her instead.

When the song ended, Ric asked for another dance and she shook her head, “Wait aren't you supposed to be seen remotely free so that the ladies will be drawn to your orbit by some cosmic, other-worldly pull?”

It was Ric’s turn to glare as he led them off of the floor, “Oh please, we both know you're on the hunt again too.”

Serena stiffened and Ric held up his hand cautiously, “I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry.”

Serena’s smile was strained but gentle, “It’s alright. It's probably best I face facts. It's been much too long already and there are many people here worth looking into.”

Ric’s smile broadened, “That's the spirit. Now where should we start?”

“Oh not together you old fool. People will think we’re married again.”

Ric laughed, “Well we can't have that. I'll make a circle that way and you check out the terrace maybe? Meet back at the bar in ten if the hunt is unsuccessful?”

“Right,” Serena nodded and took another glass of wine off of a waiter’s tray as she passed by, having forgotten already where she’d placed the last one.

She made her way out the ballroom doors onto the terrace and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. It felt good to have a moment of peace, despite the youngness of the evening. She'd spent the past few months moving from hospital to home with not many other places tucked in between. She slept for long periods of time and took Jason on errands, but her life had dissipated from what she had briefly allowed herself to think was heaven, to some dreary state of limbo where she just wanted to get out of her own head.

Serena glanced around the nearly empty terrace and noted only one other person huddled near the stone banister. She thought she'd make the effort to at least be polite and while she didn't look at the figure, offered a pleasant, “Nice night for it,” in their direction.

“Quite” came the masculine reply and Serena turned her head towards the clear night sky. _Well that's my effort for the night._

She turned, holding back the hem of her dress as she stepped over the stones that made the terrace floor, careful not to catch a heel. Her attention was so closely trained on her feet and the ground beneath them, that she did not see a third figure move out of the doorway in her path. She collided with them and almost fell but the person stopped them with a hand on her back.

“Thank you, I was trying not to fa--” Serena laughed, half-explaining until she turned her head to her rescuer and found herself looking right into the dark eyes of Berenice Wolfe.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued


End file.
